Gaps. Holes. Transitions.

Following the path of my experiments and research into faith I have reached a slightly odd place.
I am starting to look at holes.

Holes are interesting things, in the context that I am investigating, I find that holes are areas where there is a void... yes... but also holes can let things through.
Light.
Movement.
Space.
Looking for visual hooks I found some beautiful images, and a few other artists who work with holes.
Enjoy :)

Amy Friend is a photographer working with vintage photographs. Dare Alla Luce is a project where the artist re-works vintage photographs, manipulating them by poking tiny holes in them.

Her work reminds me of a series I did (years ago now) of jewellery working with constellations.

Cygnus Cross - Pendant (own work) 2007

 In fact, Friend's work has been compared to constellations...
I think here though, the holes also speak of fragility... of memory, of time, of place, of life.

Art work by Amy Friend.

Évelie Mouila is a French Jeweller and Graphic Designer. She's done a wonderful photographic series featuring thread on the human body, which she has then worked further by starting to drill tiny holes through the images. The "beads" of light form part of the jewellery on the body.

Photograph by Evelie Mouila

The works are very simple, and beautiful... sensual, and not just for being shot on the naked body. I think of them as sensual because of the way they wrap around the form of the model's body so well.

Mihoko Ogaki makes these beautiful sculptures of human forms, that act as projectors for light.

Mihoko Ogaki - from the Milky Ways series

Finding slippage.

Wrestling with philosophical concepts, and trying to figure out how to bring these into my new work is making me feel a bit like I am lost in a maze...
A few posts ago, I said that I would be sharing images and artists that may be influencing the next phase of my work. What is the next phase?
Foolishly, perhaps, I am endeavoring to explore ideas surrounding religion and science.
What?
Yeah.
This is such a wide subject, and as I mentioned in my last post, it's super easy to get distracted!

Science is so fascinating and so diverse, that each area I investigate seems to take me down a new rabbit hole.

This image, of a part of the Milky Way really needs to be viewed large scale to full get a sense of what you are looking at. The Hubble site is full of utterly amazing images of space that serve to illustrate how unbelievably tiny we are.
Talk about macro / micro ideas.... (phwoah!)

The ideas of religion and faith are controversial, beautiful and nostalgic, and while I personally am of a secular, scientific bent, I am also influenced by my love of magic, fairy tales and cultural traditions. And I love the visual material generated by religious festivals and icons...

This crucifix, loaded with crudely set gems, is labled: Ardennenkreuz (croce processionale), francia del nord o germania occ.le, 825-850 ca.  This is also typical of the style of work that I always imagined making as a child, and indeed, today I still cherish the thought that I might be able to create some form of talisman as weighty as this!

The things that I am trying to maintain a focus on are the personal, internal tensions created by a religious upbringing, and a scientific understanding (or at least, acceptance) of the universe.
The slippage between faith or a belief in something "other" and in the secular, scientific nature of the universe.

Timothy Horn is a sculptor who works with the idea of slippage. His work looks at "the meeting point between the natural and constructed worlds" (to quote from his Bio).

Gorgonia (detail) 2010, mirrored blown glass, nickel-plated bronze, 84 x 60 x 6 1/2 inches.
Private collection, La Jolla, CA

Does water have memory?

In the course of my research into the stuff of matter, the nature of the universe, particles and so on, I am finding, and my colleagues are passing wonderful articles over to me.
This is all very amazing, and somewhat distracting! But really very wonderful. This is a video about water droplets, and how they can change remarkably, depending on who made them, and what was in the water they come from....

Pretty beautiful, and just a bit mind boggling.

Tension, Icons, finding information.

Al Farrow - about whom I am struggling to find much information - creates miniature churches, mosques and synagogues from firearms and ammunition. 

Anila Quayyam Agha - Intersections. 

Found this through Colossal again... and will be looking at her work in more depth later.

Material of interest... value and value.

I recently spotted this book via Colossal... 

What an amazing visual resource!

Currently I am interested in examining ideas of value, of our presentation of the "divine"... 

A new phase... finding tensions.

2014 and I begin anew.

I hope to catalogue some artists and ideas that are or will be or maybe influencing the next phase of my work.

This is a work by Meg Hitchcock, an American artist who uses letters from sacred texts to form her images.

This from her artist statement:

"By bringing together the sacred writings of diverse religions, I undermine their authority and speak to the common thread that weaves through all scripture."

Autumn and I love it!

Autumn is usually my favourite time in Wellington. Crisp clear days, bright skies and warm sun - without the heat of summer.  This year however, Autumn seems.... washed out. The sun is weak, and all too fleeting.
It does mean that spending time in the studio on my weekend is actually a lot nicer, because I really don't feel like I am missing anything outside!

Looking back over my last post, and my early experiments with Mokume Gane... I thought you might like to see the end results of my play!

Have a look at my facebook album (yes.... FB) or... if you don't like FB, then here is a picture of the finished ring. The FB link shows a step by step photo album.

This year I really want to have more experiments with traditional techniques. Things that I don't get to do often, but would like to know more about. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut making the same stuff all the time!

Also, this year seems to be one for commissions - here is another one, for a Marine Biologist...

The concept sketch

The wax, for the wave curl.

Partially constructed - the wave and setting are silver, and the background is bronze.
The pebbles are brass and bronze.

The finished piece. The "shell" like things are deer teeth.
A slightly unusual combination of materials, but fun to work with.

Currently I am working on an engagement ring in silver and rose gold with Kyanite, a silver and gold skull ring set with diamonds, and work for a very fun exhibition called "Pirates".

More pics to come in the next post!